Computer hard drive question

[NeverMarryAStripper 21765]

My son has a gaming computer with 2 hard drives.  The first is a 500 GB drive with mostly just windows and the system files, the second is a 2TB drive with most of his games.  I'm thinking about putting in a bigger drive for his games.  Is it possible to just clone the 2nd drive over to a larger drive and have all of the games work without having to be reinstalled?  If so, can I then clone the first drive over to what used to be the 2nd drive and use the 2TB drive as the system drive with out having to reinstall windows and all of that crap?

 

[Francisco 2.0 31568]

Yes to both.

But the better solution would be to clone the 500GB system drive to a SSD (solid state drive), rather than using the existing 2TB drive.  SSD's are much better for operating system drives.  

Now, if his existing 500GB drive is an SSD, and you are cloning this over to his old 2TB (assming this is a spinning hard drive here) drive, that would be a step backwards.  

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Francisco 2.0

[immamac 41339]

Just buy a 10TB drive shove it in and move the games

[ztejas 42744]

It's better to have your games on an SSD as well. But for sure put the OS on an SSD (his 500GB drive could be one - the 2TB drive probably isn't). It's 2022. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by ztejas

[Pato del Muerto 51914]

One step at a time. Do you have access to a decently strong magnet?

[elfenix 34000]

57 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

My son has a gaming computer with 2 hard drives.  The first is a 500 GB drive with mostly just windows and the system files, the second is a 2TB drive with most of his games.  I'm thinking about putting in a bigger drive for his games.  Is it possible to just clone the 2nd drive over to a larger drive and have all of the games work without having to be reinstalled?  If so, can I then clone the first drive over to what used to be the 2nd drive and use the 2TB drive as the system drive with out having to reinstall windows and all of that crap?

 

game drive can literally just be copied in windows no fancy cloning software needed. 

OS drive needs fancy cloning software to copy and i suggest going SSD if it isn't one already.  as mentioned previously, if the OS drive is an SSD already, going to a spinning pile of rust HDD is a huge step back. 2TB SSD prices have fallen pretty drastically and good ones are available under $150 regularly now. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by elfenix

[NeverMarryAStripper 21765]

Both drives are SSDs, so that's not an issue.  I just didn't know about the ability to copy the files from one drive to another and have the programs continue to operate.

[MonkeyDoughnut 9944]

Damn, I would think 2TB would be good nowadays for the main gaming drive, especially is SSD. I'd just add in an additional 10TB if need more space and move the not so needy or frequently played games to it.

[elfenix 34000]

 

11 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Both drives are SSDs, so that's not an issue.  I just didn't know about the ability to copy the files from one drive to another and have the programs continue to operate.

 

So long as the same drive letter is used for the game drive it's not an issue.

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by elfenix

[rage-a-holic 4237]

Use Clonezilla for both drive upgrades.